And Cody would go after them and steal her back.

He was caught up in the moment, relief and fear mixing together when he heard her in his head, I'm not going anywhere. At least not for a while.

Good thing.

Cody watched as Serus and Tessa cuddled together. Serus had come a long way since not wanting to acknowledge Tessa's inability to attend the Council meetings because of her mixed heritage. As she carried the memories of one of the most powerful vampire ancients the world had ever known, they could hardly deny her entrance now.

h.e.l.l, they probably should give her a d.a.m.n seat on the Council!

Right. Like that would ever happen.

"Cody?"

Startled, Cody turned to face Serus and reached out automatically to accept Tessa back into his arms. He shifted her weight and smiled down at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, just a little off balance."

"In what way?" he asked curiously, knowing Serus was listening in.

"As if I'm too full and have to move carefully so I don't topple." Her smile was wry when she added, "I know that sounds silly, but it's as if I'm juggling two people in here."

"Two people?" Serus said in alarm. "She's not in there with you, is she?"

What a horrible thought. Cody couldn't imagine.

Tessa shook her head. "No, but all her memories are stored in here and Hortran's are maybe here, too."

"What?" Cody and Serus's voices blended into a low roar.

She shuddered. "Shh. Everything is super sensitive. Please keep your voices down."

"What did you say about Hortran?" asked Serus in a muted growl that fooled no one.

Cody watched her closely. "He's not in there, is he? He was dead."

"But he's a Ghost, remember?" she answered, a smile on her face. "And no, I don't know what that means."

"But he's there? As in you are in contact with him?"

"I think so. But not sure if he's all here or I'm speaking to residual energy."

Cody glanced over at Serus, relieved to see confusion on his face that matched Cody's. Like what the h.e.l.l? It used to be that dead was dead. He was no longer so sure.

It was as if Tessa had connected one side to the other.

Unfreakin' believable.

Just then David burst into the room. His gaze beelined to Tessa, and such love and relief washed over his face at seeing his sister alive and well that Cody could feel himself choking up again. d.a.m.n, he was turning into a b.l.o.o.d.y waterworks factory. Still, there was such caring in Tessa's family, and Cody had just lost his own brother. They'd never been as close, maybe never would have either, but now that he was gone there was no chance of that happening, Cody had to wonder at the missed opportunities. He was blessed to be as close as he was with his father. And speaking of which... where was he?

Goran walked into the next room. He was on the second floor. With Tessa collapsed upstairs, the morale of the group he led had alternated from brutal anger to defeat and back again. They needed a good battle to get their blood up and some fight back into them. Now that she was awake and appeared to be recovering, they wanted to go see her. He did too, but they had a job to do. And he couldn't let them forget she was in the shape she was because these a.s.sholes had taken out Deanna. That old witch could have lived another century. Long enough for her to find someone else to dump her s.h.i.t on.

And leave Tessa out of this. For once.

He stood in the doorway and stared around at the mirror room to every other room he'd been in here. He groaned. More people hooked up to tubes. He was sick of this. He couldn't tell the good from the bad the victims from the volunteers. For all he knew, they'd been releasing vipers into their midst who'd turn on them in a second.

But he'd set on a course and he had to finish it.

He bent down to pull the tube out of the man on the bed in front of him. And stopped.

The tube was only taped in place. It wasn't actually inserted into the man's arm.

"s.h.i.t," he whispered under his breath.

He went to back up a step and realized he'd made a monumental mistake. He hadn't started at the front to work his way around the room, he'd walked into the middle.

He was surrounded.

Pretending he didn't notice anything different, he ripped off the tape and moved to go to the second man.

Inside his head, he screamed at Serus. Second floor. Trap.

And he backed up one step. Two steps. As he went to take a third, he was grabbed from behind and the room exploded with men jumping out of the beds and attacking.

Ah h.e.l.l.

Wendy lifted her head and rubbed her temple. The headache that had started a good half hour ago was getting worse instead of better. She'd been running these numbers and names for several hours, trying to sort through the database. She had the laptop they'd recovered from the blood farm comparing data against the information on Gloria's laptop that Councilman Adamson had handed over. She was looking to identify the victims the army had recovered after the mountain blew up and the victims that would remain buried forever. They needed to try and identify who these poor people were and how many had been kidnapped to hang up in the supply line.

"Tired, Wendy? Why don't you take a break?" Sian suggested from beside her.

"Why don't you?" Wendy retorted in frustration. This was the fifth or sixth time Sian had asked, but the woman herself wouldn't stop. And she was pregnant. "You're the one that needs rest."

Sian gave a light, trilling laugh that made Wendy smile. Sian was a hoot. "How about we both take one?"

She hated to admit that the older woman in her condition could outwork Wendy, but worrying about Ian had taken the stuffing out of her and she was...tired. Ian was sleeping and d.a.m.n, she wanted to be sleeping beside him. It was the only way she could make sure he didn't get into trouble again.

"Let's check on Rhia. If she's doing well, we can go close our eyes for an hour or two."

At that moment, Rhia walked into the room. "Sian, I just spoke to Serus. Tessa is awake and talking. She appears to be tired and confused but healing."

"Oh wow, that's awesome," Wendy said. "She's so strong."

"She's very special," Sian agreed. "Hopefully they can get her out of there and bring her here to rest up."

Rhia let out a tiny snort. "I wish, but I doubt she'd come. She's not the same girl I knew a few weeks ago."

"No," Wendy said, "she's better. She's more confident. She knows who she is more and she's gained many friends and followers. She's always been 'different' only now that difference is a good thing." She grinned. "Actually, it's more a case of everyone wants to be her."

"I'm glad to hear that," Rhia said quietly. "She didn't have it easy growing up."

"She'll not find it easy now either," Sian said. "Only the challenges will be different." She stood up and stretched. "I suggest we set the computers up to do some cross checking and then go lie down."

"I'll stay here and keep track of the results."

Wendy was torn. She was tired, and the thought of lying down and closing her eyes for an hour was irresistible. But she wasn't sure she could trust Rhia. From Sian's sudden stillness, she knew she was considering the same issue. Sian walked over to the computer and clicked on a few b.u.t.tons. Wendy tried to see what she was doing without being too obvious but couldn't see what programs she'd brought up.

Rhia stood at Wendy's side, watching, waiting.

Finally, Sian stood up and said, "Naptime."

She smiled at Rhia as she walked toward the door. "They should be good to go, but there might be some questions on the filters."

"No problem," Rhia said, watching them. "I'll keep an eye on it."

Wendy opened the door and waited for Sian to walk into the hallway. She deliberately left the door open and never said a word until they were well out of earshot, then whispered, "Do you trust her?"

"With the drugs she's been given and the brainwashing...absolutely not."

Jewel woke up with her body twisting in pain, the weight of the covers too much for her beleaguered system to bear. She kicked off the light cotton, almost crying out with the effort required.

She whimpered as the cool air brushed over her bare skin. She knew she wore something for clothing because she could feel the material binding her as she moved. The breeze, oh, it felt so good. She tugged at the confining material, wanting it off her heated skin.

"Easy, Jewel." A calm female voice spoke from beside her. Firm hands pulled her own up to lay them along her side.

"It's the drugs affecting you. Just rest. Sleep so your body can deal with the withdrawal from them."

"Can't," she cried out brokenly, hating the weakness coursing through her veins, making her want to weep and cry out to be held. To have someone who loved her at her side and tell her she'd be okay. That this would be over soon.

This nameless voice wasn't one she knew. She was too terrified to open her eyes or ask questions in case her greatest fears had come to pa.s.s.

Was she at the blood farm? Still in the hospital, a stage before the blood farm, or was she safe?

"It's all right. You're safe now." The words she'd so wanted to hear rolled over her on a sea of doubt. Was she safe? Or was the woman just saying that?

"David," Jewel whispered. "I want to see David."

"Well, I don't know anyone by that name, but I'll check and see. You just take it easy now."

Jewel whimpered. Her mind refused to listen to anyone. Where was David? Why was David not here?

If he wasn't with her where was he?

David raced down the stairs toward Goran, his father at his heels. The cry of help from someone who rarely called for any was terrifying. They'd barely held Tessa and Cody back from racing down here with them. But Tessa wasn't up to it, and Cody needed to stay and look after her whether either of them liked that or not. Besides, there were a dozen young vamps behind them looking for a good dustup.

For once, Cody and Tessa needed to stay back and let others take care of them. Since taking Jewel back to the Council Hall and returning as fast as he could, David had been looking for a chance to get a little revenge himself.

No one should get away with what these a.s.sholes were doing.

Jewel was exhausted and terrified. Who knew what they'd done to her? Anything was too much.

He burst through the door to the floor and came to a staggering stop. In front of him, a dozen vamps surrounded Goran. One particularly mega-size model stood behind him, his hand on the back of Goran's neck. In his other hand he held a small weird weapon. s.h.i.t. Cody had mentioned something about those. UV lights or something. And he was in its direct line of sight.

Just then, the big man lifted his hand and pointed the gun right at David.

He dove to the left in front of his father and they both tumbled into the group behind them.

The big man laughed as the group struggled to right themselves.

David caught a glimpse of Goran's eye roll.

Not the best entrance he'd ever made. David hopped to his feet, facing the giant. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Serus slipping off to the side. What was he up to?

"You guys are the rescue party? What a joke. No wonder they wanted us to take your place at the front of the line. Useless, the whole lot of you."

"Take our place?" David asked. "What do you mean?"

"The clan leaders. We're taking them over. All of them."

Goran snorted. "Like h.e.l.l."

The big vamp clenched his arm tighter across Goran's throat, his bicep bulging. Goran choked and gasped for air. The vamp released him slightly. "Yes, we are. And obviously we're needed. You're all useless. Old. Used up. We are bigger, better, smarter."

David shook his head. "You're enhanced. You've been given drugs and DNA that wasn't yours to try and improve on our ancient bloodlines."

"And?" the vamp challenged. "What's wrong with that? It's not as if you are doing a good job running this place. Look at it. The d.a.m.n livestock are running all over the place acting like they own the world. Like they have the right to live here free." He snickered. "As if."

"So that's what this is all about? The blood farms?"

The big man shrugged. "Not only that. But obviously that is the way to feed the growing number of vamps. Of course weeding out the old, the weak, and the useless helps too."

David took several casual steps forward, noticing that no one seemed to care. As if he wasn't enough of a threat for them to be bothered about. h.e.l.l, he'd show them.

He took another step. Several vamps straightened. He deliberately slipped and fell down, and as they chortled with laughter he twisted, landed on his feet, and flipped over, lashing out and kicking the UV weapon out of the a.s.shole's hand.

He straightened, spun, and went to kick only to find Goran had already attacked.

Chaos broke out.

David jumped on the back of the big vamp as he fought off Goran. Goran might have been surrounded and allowed himself to have been taken before, but no longer. He wanted a little payback of his own. While David kept the big vamp from being able to move easily, Goran jumped and kicked the big man in the chest then spun, lashing out a powerful fist and hitting the big man in the jaw. He barely swayed.

Goran landed on his feet and bent over slightly, his chest heaving.